Army steps up surveillance to counter infiltration in Kashmir

The Indian Army has been placed on alert to thwart any infiltration bid from across the border in Jammu and Kashmir. Major general Anil Chauhan, the commanding officer of the 19 Dagger Division, said: "We have a strong counter infiltration build in place.

The Indian Army has been placed on alert to thwart any infiltration bid from across the border in Jammu and Kashmir.

Major general Anil Chauhan, the commanding officer of the 19 Dagger Division, said: "We have a strong counter infiltration build in place, and the people are all alert and the in-network in the rear areas is also functioning very well, and I think, it will be difficult to penetrate after the counter infiltration grid which we have established."

Tensions have been prevailing between India and Pakistan after regular violations, by the latter nation in Kashmir since August 2013, of the 2003 ceasefire agreement between the two countries.

Tit-for-tat artillery fire frequently rattles the so-called Line of Control (LoC), separating Indian-and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, while infiltration and cross-border ambushes have also been occurring regularly in recent years.

However, major general Chauhan informed that the Indian Army was maintaining the ceasefire and hoped for peace and tranquility on the border area.

"We are maintaining the ceasefire in the spirit of maintaining peace and tranquillity on the Line of Control. It is a sincere endeavour that the people of the border area should not suffer because of the ceasefire violations and there should be peace and tranquillity on our borders. No serious violations has come to our notice in the recent times, hopefully this tempo will be maintained from both the sides," said Chauhan.

In October 2013, around 30 to 40 heavily armed fighters had crossed the LoC in the Keran sector and had remained holed up for nearly nine days in thick forests.

The Kashmir region has witnessed numerous militant attacks, insurgency and infiltration attempts from across the border in the last two decades.

Militants have been frequently attacking security bases in Kashmir since the 1990s, when there was a full-blown insurgency against Indian rule in a region over which India and Pakistan fought two of their three wars.

The Himalayan region is one of the world's most militarised zones, with India deploying more than 1.3 million troops to quell the rebellion that triggered off in 1989.